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| April 5 , 2005
40th Anniversary Edition |
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Graphic by Rebecca Straughmatt Mesa Legend |
Changes through the years help shape views of society
Tiffany German
Mesa Legend
From muscle cars to the Honda hybrid, and from Nixon to Bush No. 2, the changes this country has seen in the last 30 years has been remarkable.
As college students, it’s hard to visualize the 1970s and compare it to this generation, considering that so much has changed. But has it really?
Well, not so much in the fashion department, the baby doll dresses and flared jeans look is not to be attributed to the fashion designers of our time, but to the original 1970s hippie.
With things coming back into style, including peasant blouses from the ’70s, loud crazy colors from the ’80s, and big hoop earrings from the ’90s, what has really changed so much?
Aside from the fashion industry, things of greater importance have flourished over time, says Julie Langston, a 1970s high school and junior college student.
“Our generation was never exposed to gay people, we didn’t accept them the way most of this generation does.
“We also had no respect for our military the way young people do today.”
Josh Ingles also grew up in the 1970s; he enrolled in the military right out of high school.
“We didn’t wear our uniforms in public, people would call us baby killers, though a lot of people joined it, the kids of that time thought the military was wrong.”
Ingles also recalls not having such a variety of entertainment as this generation does.
“We didn’t have the Internet and cable TV when I was growing up. The kids of today have much more access to the outside world than we ever did, and I’m not sure that’s necessarily a good thing.”
As far as what to do on a Friday night goes, it depends on who you’re talking about.
The drinking age now is 21, and the bars of the Valley are usually packed, but for Langston and Ingles it was a different story.
“Our legal drinking age was 19, but my friends and I were more about the house parties and the Saturday night drive-ins,” Langston said. Ingles, an Idaho native, remembers “keggers” in the mountains.
College is a much more common thing to do out of high school now more than ever before.
This generation is waiting longer to get married, to have kids and to start a life and family.
In the ’70s, however, it was not uncommon to get married and have a kid right out of high school. For Ingles, he remembers most of his pals enrolling in the military after high school.
Though some of the “good old days” still remains as this generation still embraces the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Led Zepplin.
However, some things will never change; this generation loses out on the “free spiritedness” of the ’70s, but is rewarded with an open mind and a better paycheck.
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